


Coy

by canidswain



Series: David Marble Hornets AU [1]
Category: Marble Hornets
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Retail!Tim, trying on clothes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:14:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27033256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canidswain/pseuds/canidswain
Summary: Sliding his eyes away from the clock, Tim took another look at the latest customer. About his age, presumably, with long brown hair pulled into a more-or-less tamed ponytail and short patches of facial hair on his jaws and chin. On the fatter side, boyfriend jeans and a shirt with the sleeves messily chopped out, as well as a gentle tune on his tongue. He wandered lazily about, a docile and dozey look in his face. It was that kind of day, where mostly everyone was sleepy and languid from the heat. Tim himself was nearly falling asleep at the counter."Hm. 'Scuse me, do you happen to have this in any other sizes?"
Relationships: Timothy "Tim" W./Original Male Character(s)
Series: David Marble Hornets AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1704667
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Coy

**Author's Note:**

> pre relationship tim and david stuff because FUCK yeah  
> takes place in the year gap from nov 2010 to nov 2011 where jay is at the hotel looking through footage of his seven month gap in memory and tim is. Doing Good :]

Today was a slow day.

Tim's eyes were dragged on the clock, its second hand ticking around every moment. It still felt too slow. He blinked - time felt muggy.

He was four hours into his solo shift and so far had only seen three customers. It wasn't like they ever really got business - this town wasn't exactly busy enough to warrant flocks of patrons - but usually it was at least a little more active than this. Earlier in the morning there was a frazzled looking mother with her two kids who he smiled sympathetically at; later there was a group of teenagers that perused, were loud, and were mostly there to get out of the humid Alabama air and into the air-con of the shop.

Sliding his eyes away from the clock, Tim took another look at the latest customer. About his age, presumably, with long brown hair pulled into a more-or-less tamed ponytail and short patches of facial hair on his jaws and chin. On the fatter side, boyfriend jeans and a shirt with the sleeves messily chopped out, as well as a gentle tune on his tongue. He wandered lazily about, a docile and dozey look in his face. It was that kind of day, where mostly everyone was sleepy and languid from the heat. Tim himself was nearly falling asleep at the counter.

"Hm. 'Scuse me, do you happen to have this in any other sizes?"

British, huh. Rough, not posh, though - Tim sat up and pulled himself out of his airy slump. There was a skirt being held out towards him, denim with a sunflower embroidered near the hem. For a moment, he looked at it, then up to the man, and blinked with effort, "Not on hand, but I can check in the back for you."

"That'd be perfect, thanks."

Tim didn't allow himself to dwell on the customer's soft smile, his tongue poking out playfully from the corner of his mouth. He swept through to the back room, browsing over the shelves and finding nothing like the skirt. He couldn't help but find the stranger's confidence a little bit charming - not just anyone could say they were a man wearing something flamboyant in rural Alabama. Still, he sighed and treked back out to the front - "Sorry, nothing I can find. We do have other skirts though, and dresses too. If you'd like, I can fetch some out for you."

That smile, again. There was a tingling of excitement in that expression, Tim could sense it. He almost wanted to mirror it back with a coy, shivery little grin. "If it's not too much trouble, thank you so much."

"No trouble at all," he smiled back, giving a chuckle for good measure, "You're the most business we've had all day. I'll be back in a second, hold tight."

A minute or so later, he returned with a generous pile of dresses and skirts. His heart skipped a little at the wonderous expression on the customer's face.

"Changing room's to your left, take as long as you want. Need anything, just yell."

"Of course! Thank you again." And with that, he disappeared behind the curtain.

Smiling unwillingly, Tim dropped back down into his seat behind the register and bashfully covered his mouth with his hand, resting his elbow on the counter. He teased himself ( _crushing on a customer you've talked for two minutes with? Really, Tim_ ), but didn't detest the way his heart did little flutters remembering the man's smile. He wouldn't do anything about it, of course - far too preoccupied in life to think about romance right now - however the thought was nice. When was the last time he'd had a relationship? Some girl in college when he was still trying to convince himself he was straight, probably.

A call from the changing room interrupted his musings. "Hey, can you be my critique for a second?"

He blinked, "Uh- yeah, sure."

"Don't hold back, okay, I don't wanna buy something that doesn't suit me."

"No holding back, got it." And then, just for fun, "Oh _God,_ you look hideous in that. No respectable person would show themself in public looking like that."

To his relief, he heard a laugh from behind the curtain, and a smile in the stranger's voice, "Okay, hold back a _little,_ you haven't even seen me yet!"

Then a hand brushed back the curtain and out strode the customer, still wearing his DIY shirt but having switched the jeans for a shin-length flowing skirt that fell into ruffles at the bottom. For a moment, Tim forgot how to speak, admiring the way the skirt shifted as the man spun. "Well?"

"Oh- uh, yeah. You look really good, actually."

As he spoke, the customer was taking down his hair, letting it tumble down his back and shaking it out. Unbrushed, but still beautiful. "Thank you. That all, though?"

 _I kinda wanna kiss you, if you don't mind,_ Tim thought. "Hm... only thing is it looks a little tight around the waist. Is it gonna be comfy?"

"Ah, I can take the waist out a little, that's fine. Thank you."

"No problem."

With that, the man returned to the changing room. For the next twenty minutes, he would strut out wearing the different items Tim had picked out, and together they'd go through them - _"This one makes my legs look skinny, I swear." "It's leather, it'll probably do that. What about the purple dress?" "I'm getting to that one! Gosh, sure are desperate, huh?"_ \- and gradually a pile of wanted and unwanted clothes built up. In the wanted: the original flowing skirt, the aforementioned purple dress, a denim skirt quite similar to the initial sunflower skirt, a loose baby-blue summer dress that Tim carefully coupled with a hastily-fetched belt, and various other things. The unwanted pile was quite large, Tim having grabbed a lot, but mostly because they concluded they weren't all that flattering.

All in all, the customer seemed satisfied, if the beaming expression on his face was anything to go off. As Tim rang him up, he played with his fingers.

"Hey, I wanted to ask... Um, I'm new in town, and haven't really been out much - unpacking, you know. What kind of things are there to do around here?"

Tim looked up from where he was checking the price on a label, considering, "Not much, honestly. There's a movie theatre and a couple of parks, that's about it."

The look on the man's face seemed coy. "Ah, thanks." He looked away for a moment, biting his cheek. "You wouldn't want to... show me around, perhaps?"

Tim was a little bit embarrassed at how quickly he nodded. "That'd be real nice, yeah. When do you wanna go? I can do today, if you want - I get off in an hour."

"That's perfect. I'll see you then, okay?" He dropped his cash on the counter, gathering up the clothes. "I'll swing back around here."

"Sounds good." Stomach doing loops, Tim grinned. "I'm- I'm Tim, by the way."

"David."

David's smile followed him out of the shop.


End file.
